January Issue

InsideThis Issue:

Page 2What’s Your NewYear’s Resolution?

Page 3Keeping

Correspondence Outof the Junk Folder

Page 4Whole Ball of Wax

Page 5Business Cardswith a Bang

Page 6In That Year

Influencing People byUnderstandingMotivations

The Color of Success

Page 7Books in Review:

LinchpinGuess Who I Am

Page 8Lead Nurturing MakesLoyal Customers

January 2011Your Sales, Marketing, and Business Management Newsletter

Lead Nurturing Makes Loyal Customersof monthly sales and promotions. Leadnurturing involves building a more complexrelationship with clients, showing them youare in tune with their needs beyondrestocking their shelves with your productor encouraging them to hire you for aspecial event.An example of lead nurturing might

go like this: say you have a landscapingbusiness and want to reach out to customersold and new. Rather than sending out someflyers with discount coupons, you might trysomething more personal and topical. Youcould send an article describing commonhome-garden pests in your area and howto handle them. Your customers willappreciate the useful, relevant informationthat doesn’t immediately require themto fork over some cash, and you’ll bebuilding a relationship that paints youas knowledgeable and helpful, withoutseeming pushy.

The term “lead nurturing” has beenfloating around for a bit, and while a lotof people pay lip service to the term,not everyone seems to fully understandthe extent to which it can help build andreinforce customer loyalty.Lead nurturing is more than simply

contacting leads and informing them

Lead nurturing is all about makingclient contact meaningful. Have atalking point beyond making a sale whenreaching out to your customer. Build anunderstanding of your contacts and theirroles in their companies. Learn what theyneed to succeed at their jobs, and helpcultivate their success. Something assimple as calling to say you heard about alocal seminar that they might find usefulwill impress them and create positivefeelings toward your company.Today’s customer is savvy and

somewhat jaded. Everywhere they look,someone is trying to sell them something.Lead nurturing steps back from theimmediate sale and focuses on creatingrelationships built around mutual interestsand similar goals. It’s those kinds of rela-tionships that last, and can even lead tonew connections, because you see:nurturing can go both ways!

Jeff Carlton Sales

Address215 MTCS Rd.

Murfreesboro, TN 37129Phone

615.893.4290Fax

615.893.4295Web

www.WaxFamilyPrinting.com

Wax Family Printing is the onlyCPrint™® certified printer in Middle

Tennessee.

published monthly by

Wax Family Printing, LLC

STANDARDPRE-SORTEDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDMurfreesboro, TNPERMIT NO. 86

W A X F A M I L Y P R I N T I N G

January 2011 � 36 � Business Savvy

� In That Year

Down to Business

Keeping Correspondence Out of the Junk Folder

Who could have imagined even 10 years ago how important email would become to the business world? The answer for January is

Walter Cronkite. Now most of us can’t function without our electronic in-box. As useful as email is, however, it comes with its own

special crop of problems, one of the most notorious being spam.

Spam can be defined as anyunsolicited bulk email, often sales-related or in the form of chain-letters, that promises good luckor dire consequences dependingon whether or not you forwardthe message to 20 friends. Spam’sbiggest crime is wasting thereader’s time. In fact, many emailservices have developed electronicfilters that help weed out the spam,leaving your in-box full of only themessages you want to read.The downside here is that

sometimes genuine, desiredbusiness correspondence gets lostin the mix. This is where a savvybusinessperson should take heed.Most of us can recall sending anemail to a client, only to have itmysteriously disappear. Perhapsyou even followed up with yourclient, but discovered your emailwound up in their spam folder. Howcould this have happened?It turns out that spam-detecting

software is programmed to scanincoming emails for textual redflags that are commonly found inspam emails. If an email has enoughof these red flags, it automaticallygets sent to the junk folder. Thus,

an important email your client mayhave requested from you could mys-teriously “disappear,” and make youlook irresponsible.Spam is such an epidemic that

many IT managers set the spamfilters to be extremely sensitive andflag anything that looks remotelysuspicious. The good news is ifyou understand the types of thingsspam filters look for, you can avoidincluding those red-flag raisers inyour own emails, ensuring thoseimportant messages make it to theproper person every time:Spellcheck: Even if you’re anexcellent speller, little mistakessometimes slip through, and toomany spelling and grammaticalmistakes will send an email to thespam folder.Special Fonts and Colors: If you aretrying to make a point, it’s temptingto try some special colors or fancyfonts to catch your client’s attention.Overuse of nonstandard fonts andany color besides black, however,will set off all sorts of red flags withspam filters.Watch Your Exclamation Points andCAPITALIZATIONS!! This is animportant one. Use more than one

or two exclamation points in anemail, especially in the subject line,and you can be sure the filter willflag it as spam. The same goes foremphasizing words by typing themall in capitals.Avoid Sales Cliches:You knowthe phrases: MONEY-BACKGUARANTEE!!!! CLICKHERE!!!! URGENT!!!! WHYPAYMORE???All these tried-and-trueclassics are almost guaranteedto get your email flagged. Sure,you can use these words in anemail—just be sure you bury themin actual sentences that convey realinformation to your client.The trouble with the red-flag-

raising text is that it so oftenshows up in more informal emails,either with friends or with well-established clients with whomyou have built a solid relationship.That’s the danger—if you becomeso comfortable with a businesscontact that you begin to slip intomore informal language, you runthe risk of them missing out on avery important email. A few extraexclamation points and sloppyspelling can send an entire businessrelationship into the junk folder.

1981� President Ronald Reagan is shotand wounded by gunman JohnHinckley Jr.� Sandra Day O’Connor becomesthe first woman to serve on theUnited States Supreme Court.� MTV goes on the air, playingmusic videos 24 hours a day. Thefirst video played is “Video Killedthe Radio Star” by the Buggles.� IBM introduces its first personalcomputer, running the MicrosoftDisk Operating System (MS-DOS).It costs $1,565.00.� Walter Cronkite retires fromjournalism.� Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the firstAmerican test-tube baby, is born inNorfolk, Virginia.� Egyptian President Anwar Sadatis assassinated.� Popular television shows includeDallas (CBS), The Jeffersons(CBS), Three’s Company (ABC),and 60 Minutes (CBS).

a feeling, and creating an overlying themefor your brand.Think about your business, what it

represents, and how you would like customersto perceive you. A powerful law firm mightwant a strong color like red or royal blue. Orgreen for a landscaping business. Onceyou’ve settled on a color, begin associating itwith your brand. Make it an accent letter onyour company stationery, the main color inyour logo, or the border of your business card.The possibilities are endless!

Many small-business owners don’treally consider color when planning theirbrand-building campaign, but they should.Think of these companies or organizations:UPS, Target, LiveStrong, Home Depot, theNational Breast Cancer Foundation. Can youpicture their colors?But is color really that important for a

small business? The answer is yes. Eventhough there might be other companiesassociated with a color, you’re not just tyinga color to your name. You are also invoking


the right way. Life is complicated and full ofsometimes difficult choices, and a person ofinfluence can make a huge impact by offeringsimple solutions to pressing problems of the day.Positive Self-image: People want to feel goodabout themselves. They can achieve this byliving up to the expectations of friends, businesspartners, and society. A large part of this involvesbeing consistent. In an inconsistent world, wevalue people who can be relied upon.Of course, these techniques are not meant

to be used as “mind control” devices. Theyare very useful, however, when fundraising ortrying to drum up interest in a new businessventure. By starting small and appealing topeople’s most basic desires, you can really helpincrease your chance of success.

The art of persuasion is a useful skillin the business world, and there are awealth of techniques that are said to helpbuild persuasive abilities. One approach isunderstanding and appealing to people’smost basic desires: the desire to belong, thedesire for correctness, and the desire for apositive self-image.Belonging: People in general want to beliked, they want to belong, and they willwork hard to avoid rejection. An influentialperson creates opportunities for othersto join in on something like a club or acommittee. Then they will place themselvesat the head of the committee and set out todirect the energy of the group.Correctness: People also want to do things

Influencing People by Understanding Motivations

Business Savvy Published monthly by Wax Family Printing | 215 MTCS Drive | Murfreesboro, TN 37129

Business Quotes

2 � Business Savvy

� Strictly Business

January 2011 � 7

Books in Review� Guess Who I Am

If you’re concerned about remaining competitivein today’s shaky and increasingly global economy,Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godinis the book for you. Godin discusses qualities thatanyone can cultivate that can mean the differencebetween getting laid off or becoming a linchpin intheir organization.Godin describes a linchpin as an “essential building

block” of any organization. Linchpins are passionateabout their work; they reach beyond the mundane,day-to-day routine and become like artists in theirfield, no matter what that field may be. Linchpinsare passionate about what they do and take a creativeapproach to their jobs. They are indispensable.Godin lays the groundwork in the first part of

his book by giving a broad overview of businesspast, present, and future. He explains how it’s nolonger enough to simply do your job, then providesexamples of ways to apply creativity to everydayproblems in order to become indispensable. Finally,he discusses the roadblocks everyone faces, embodiedin a self-defeating mind-set he calls “lizard brain.”Linchpin is a valuable, humorous, and inspiring

book that can help even the most cautious lizardbrains branch out beyond their wildest dreams.

by Seth Godin

This only child was born onNovember 4, 1916 in SaintJoseph, Missouri to parentsWalter, a dentist, and Helen.When he was 10, his familymoved to Austin, Texas. Hewas a Boy Scout, and aftermoving to Texas, he read anarticle in American Boy aboutthe adventures of reporters whotraveled around the world. Byjunior high, he had made up hismind to become a reporter, andworked as an editor for his highschool newspaper.He attended the University

of Texas at Austin, but droppedout his junior year to pursuejournalism, a field in which hewas finding some success. In1936, he branched into radio,where he was still reporting thenews, and where he also met hisfuture wife, Betsy.This man joined CBS News in

1950. He had found his niche inreporting, and went on to coversome of the biggest events inhistory, including the Cold War,the death of John F. Kennedy, themoon landing, and the VietnamWar. Throughout it all, he andBetsy stayed together until herdeath in 2005, just weeks beforetheir 65th anniversary.This highly respected journalist

passed away in 2009, but he isstill remembered by his well-earned moniker: “the most trustedman in America.” This man is,of course, is featured somewherein this issue of Business Savvy!

Linchpin:Are YouIndispensable?

“About the time we can make theends meet, somebody moves theends.”

-- Herbert Hoover

“Don’t let your ego get too close toyour position, so that if yourposition gets shot down, your egodoesn’t go with it.”

-- Colin Powell

“There was a time when a fool andhis money were soon parted, butnow it happens to everybody.”

-- Adlai E. Stevenson

“A friendship founded on businessis a good deal better than abusiness founded on friendship.”

-- John D. Rockefeller

What’s Your New Year’sResolution? This year weresolve to give you the bestservice you’ve ever received.How about you? Is this theyear of finding new clients?Or perhaps you plan to breakthe company record in sales.Whatever it might be, WaxFamily Printing is here to help!

Not anymore! Who could be blue afterseeing the red-hot deals we have for you!

Wax Family Printing, LLCWax Family Printing, LLC

January 2011 � 36 � Business Savvy

� In That Year

Down to Business

Keeping Correspondence Out of the Junk Folder

Who could have imagined even 10 years ago how important email would become to the business world? The answer for January is

Walter Cronkite. Now most of us can’t function without our electronic in-box. As useful as email is, however, it comes with its own

special crop of problems, one of the most notorious being spam.

Spam can be defined as anyunsolicited bulk email, often sales-related or in the form of chain-letters, that promises good luckor dire consequences dependingon whether or not you forwardthe message to 20 friends. Spam’sbiggest crime is wasting thereader’s time. In fact, many emailservices have developed electronicfilters that help weed out the spam,leaving your in-box full of only themessages you want to read.The downside here is that

sometimes genuine, desiredbusiness correspondence gets lostin the mix. This is where a savvybusinessperson should take heed.Most of us can recall sending anemail to a client, only to have itmysteriously disappear. Perhapsyou even followed up with yourclient, but discovered your emailwound up in their spam folder. Howcould this have happened?It turns out that spam-detecting

software is programmed to scanincoming emails for textual redflags that are commonly found inspam emails. If an email has enoughof these red flags, it automaticallygets sent to the junk folder. Thus,

an important email your client mayhave requested from you could mys-teriously “disappear,” and make youlook irresponsible.Spam is such an epidemic that

many IT managers set the spamfilters to be extremely sensitive andflag anything that looks remotelysuspicious. The good news is ifyou understand the types of thingsspam filters look for, you can avoidincluding those red-flag raisers inyour own emails, ensuring thoseimportant messages make it to theproper person every time:Spellcheck: Even if you’re anexcellent speller, little mistakessometimes slip through, and toomany spelling and grammaticalmistakes will send an email to thespam folder.Special Fonts and Colors: If you aretrying to make a point, it’s temptingto try some special colors or fancyfonts to catch your client’s attention.Overuse of nonstandard fonts andany color besides black, however,will set off all sorts of red flags withspam filters.Watch Your Exclamation Points andCAPITALIZATIONS!! This is animportant one. Use more than one

or two exclamation points in anemail, especially in the subject line,and you can be sure the filter willflag it as spam. The same goes foremphasizing words by typing themall in capitals.Avoid Sales Cliches:You knowthe phrases: MONEY-BACKGUARANTEE!!!! CLICKHERE!!!! URGENT!!!! WHYPAYMORE???All these tried-and-trueclassics are almost guaranteedto get your email flagged. Sure,you can use these words in anemail—just be sure you bury themin actual sentences that convey realinformation to your client.The trouble with the red-flag-

raising text is that it so oftenshows up in more informal emails,either with friends or with well-established clients with whomyou have built a solid relationship.That’s the danger—if you becomeso comfortable with a businesscontact that you begin to slip intomore informal language, you runthe risk of them missing out on avery important email. A few extraexclamation points and sloppyspelling can send an entire businessrelationship into the junk folder.

1981� President Ronald Reagan is shotand wounded by gunman JohnHinckley Jr.� Sandra Day O’Connor becomesthe first woman to serve on theUnited States Supreme Court.� MTV goes on the air, playingmusic videos 24 hours a day. Thefirst video played is “Video Killedthe Radio Star” by the Buggles.� IBM introduces its first personalcomputer, running the MicrosoftDisk Operating System (MS-DOS).It costs $1,565.00.� Walter Cronkite retires fromjournalism.� Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the firstAmerican test-tube baby, is born inNorfolk, Virginia.� Egyptian President Anwar Sadatis assassinated.� Popular television shows includeDallas (CBS), The Jeffersons(CBS), Three’s Company (ABC),and 60 Minutes (CBS).

a feeling, and creating an overlying themefor your brand.Think about your business, what it

represents, and how you would like customersto perceive you. A powerful law firm mightwant a strong color like red or royal blue. Orgreen for a landscaping business. Onceyou’ve settled on a color, begin associating itwith your brand. Make it an accent letter onyour company stationery, the main color inyour logo, or the border of your business card.The possibilities are endless!

Many small-business owners don’treally consider color when planning theirbrand-building campaign, but they should.Think of these companies or organizations:UPS, Target, LiveStrong, Home Depot, theNational Breast Cancer Foundation. Can youpicture their colors?But is color really that important for a

small business? The answer is yes. Eventhough there might be other companiesassociated with a color, you’re not just tyinga color to your name. You are also invoking


the right way. Life is complicated and full ofsometimes difficult choices, and a person ofinfluence can make a huge impact by offeringsimple solutions to pressing problems of the day.Positive Self-image: People want to feel goodabout themselves. They can achieve this byliving up to the expectations of friends, businesspartners, and society. A large part of this involvesbeing consistent. In an inconsistent world, wevalue people who can be relied upon.Of course, these techniques are not meant

to be used as “mind control” devices. Theyare very useful, however, when fundraising ortrying to drum up interest in a new businessventure. By starting small and appealing topeople’s most basic desires, you can really helpincrease your chance of success.

The art of persuasion is a useful skillin the business world, and there are awealth of techniques that are said to helpbuild persuasive abilities. One approach isunderstanding and appealing to people’smost basic desires: the desire to belong, thedesire for correctness, and the desire for apositive self-image.Belonging: People in general want to beliked, they want to belong, and they willwork hard to avoid rejection. An influentialperson creates opportunities for othersto join in on something like a club or acommittee. Then they will place themselvesat the head of the committee and set out todirect the energy of the group.Correctness: People also want to do things

Influencing People by Understanding Motivations

Business Savvy Published monthly by Wax Family Printing | 215 MTCS Drive | Murfreesboro, TN 37129

4 � Business Savvy January 2011 � 5

� Did You Know?

Business Cards with a BangNothing makes a good impression

like a high-quality business card. Somesmall businesses have tried cutting costsby using those precut business-cardsheets that can be run through any officeprinter. But often these do-it-yourselfsheets prove more trouble than they’reworth: the ink will smudge or the paperwill misfeed, leaving your design off-center and making the cards look, well,unprofessional.If you really want to make a

positive impression on clientsand business contacts, a pro-fessionally printed setof business cards is the wayto go. Designing the carddoesn’t have tobe difficult, either, asmost printing companiesoffer a huge variety ofsamples that are sure tospark your creativity.Here are a few things to

keep in mind when orderingyour next set of custombusiness cards:Single or Double-sided: Didyou know that many

people now have double-sided businesscards? If you have a lot of information toinclude on your card but are concernedabout the final product looking cluttered, adouble-sided card might be right for you.Paper: Believe it or not, paper stockis not a place you want to scrimp. Thequality of the materials you use for yourbusiness card is a reflection on you and

your business. If youchoose a cheap,

flimsy paperfor yourbusinesscards,

you risk creating a poor impression onpotential clients.Design:You want your card to beattractive, but you also need it to conveya lot of information. Logos, color,typeface, and the type of informationyou need to share are all things to betaken into consideration when designingyour business card. Our printing firmcan help with this task if it becomes toooverwhelming.Above all, your business card is a

reflection of you and your company.It plays a role in building positive firstimpressions, and can also serve as along-term reminder to casual businessacquaintances who might need yourservices in the future.

� The word “toast,” meaning a wish of goodhealth, started in ancient Rome, where apiece of toasted bread was dropped into wine.� The longest-living cells in the body arebrain cells, which can live an entire lifetime.� If you could drive to the sun at 55 milesper hour, it would take about 193 years.� There are approximately 50 Bibles soldeach minute across the world.� Amole can dig over 250 feet of tunnel in asingle night.� A group of larks is called an exaltation.� Al Capone’s business card said he was aused-furniture dealer.� Armored knights raised their visors whenthey rode past their king. This custom hasbecome the modern military salute.

Whole Ball of Wax

Kevin WaxGeneral Manager

[email protected]

Customers and clients are used to working closely with a member of the WaxFamily when they visit the shop. Over the years, Nevin, Birdie, Kevin, Rhonda,Trevin, Justin, Tiffany and Weston have all tackled the important role of CustomerService Rep. While it is good that clients were able to work with all of us,sometimes it has been a bit of a revolving door. Changing responsibilities, agrowing company, a growing family... whatever the reasons – it has been achallenge for us to settle into the CSR/Sales role with just one of us.

Not anymore; we are happy to announce thatJustin Wax has chosen to make Wax Familyhis career choice! Fresh back from Iraq,Justin looked at his options and decided thatthe family business was all that. Justin willcontinue to serve in the Tennessee ArmyNational Guard and is due for his nextpromotion to First Lieutenant any day now.

Founder of the family business, Nevin Waxcommented, “Justin will be a superioraddition to the long-standing leadershiptradition at Wax Family Printing. He addsanother much needed component to ourstrong printing history of serving businessin Rutherford County.”

General Manager, Kevin Wax (and proud papa) said, “Justin has worked with us formany years through high school, college at MTSU, and even with some specialprojects when he was earning his MBA at the University of Tennessee. Knowingthat he will be working with us from now on is a great honor to us. We had a lot ofgood news in 2010; this is the best news and more than we could have hoped for.”

Justin’s take on this? He’s taking it all in stride and already helping the business geteven better. He says, “It’s great for me and my family to be back working at WaxFamily Printing. All of my colleagues here have been with the company for severalyears, and there is such a friendly and professional business climate. I’m lookingforward to building relationships and helping business people in Middle Tennesseewith their printing needs. Middle Tennessee is a terrific place to live and offers agrowing and thriving business environment.”

Welcome Justin! I hope you’re as happy working with us as we have been workingwith you.

Justin Wax Chooses Wax FamilyThird Generation Wax Makes a Career Move


Founder Nevin Wax, General Manager Kevin Wax,Justin Wax CSR/Sales

InsideThis Issue:

Page 2What’s Your NewYear’s Resolution?

Page 3Keeping

Correspondence Outof the Junk Folder

Page 4Whole Ball of Wax

Page 5Business Cardswith a Bang

Page 6In That Year

Influencing People byUnderstandingMotivations


Page 7Books in Review:

LinchpinGuess Who I Am

Lead Nurturing MakesLoyal Customers

January 2011Your Sales, Marketing, and Business Management Newsletter

Lead Nurturing Makes Loyal Customersof monthly sales and promotions. Leadnurturing involves building a more complexrelationship with clients, showing them youare in tune with their needs beyondrestocking their shelves with your productor encouraging them to hire you for aspecial event.An example of lead nurturing might

go like this: say you have a landscapingbusiness and want to reach out to customersold and new. Rather than sending out someflyers with discount coupons, you might trysomething more personal and topical. Youcould send an article describing commonhome-garden pests in your area and howto handle them. Your customers willappreciate the useful, relevant informationthat doesn’t immediately require themto fork over some cash, and you’ll bebuilding a relationship that paints youas knowledgeable and helpful, withoutseeming pushy.

The term “lead nurturing” has beenfloating around for a bit, and while a lotof people pay lip service to the term,not everyone seems to fully understandthe extent to which it can help build andreinforce customer loyalty.Lead nurturing is more than simply

contacting leads and informing them

Lead nurturing is all about makingclient contact meaningful. Have atalking point beyond making a sale whenreaching out to your customer. Build anunderstanding of your contacts and theirroles in their companies. Learn what theyneed to succeed at their jobs, and helpcultivate their success. Something assimple as calling to say you heard about alocal seminar that they might find usefulwill impress them and create positivefeelings toward your company.Today’s customer is savvy and

somewhat jaded. Everywhere they look,someone is trying to sell them something.Lead nurturing steps back from theimmediate sale and focuses on creatingrelationships built around mutual interestsand similar goals. It’s those kinds of rela-tionships that last, and can even lead tonew connections, because you see:nurturing can go both ways!

Jeff Carlton Sales

Address215 MTCS Rd.

Murfreesboro, TN 37129Phone

615.893.4290Fax

615.893.4295Web

www.WaxFamilyPrinting.com

Wax Family Printing is the onlyCPrint™® certified printer in Middle

Tennessee.

published monthly by


STANDARDPRE-SORTEDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDMurfreesboro, TNPERMIT NO. 86

W A X F A M I L Y P R I N T I N G

January Issue

Documents

Transcript of January Issue